Nigerian firm calls for cement labelling review

11th June 2014 - Fine Cut

A Nigerian organisation has called for action to be taken to address the issue of incorrect cement application across the country.

Lafarge Nigeria is the first firm to manufacture 42.5 grade cement in the nation. However, it has highlighted the issue that many people are failing to get the results they want from the product as a problem they need to overcome.

The company is now demanding a review over what goes into the labelling of cement in Nigeria, asking for it to be made mandatory for proper instructions "in layman's terms" to be included. It has subsequently requested stakeholders within the industry work together to try to come to a solution.

General manager of industrial performance Lanre Opakunle said users needed to be widely educated on the matter, but their calls to change current procedures have so far "not been taken on board". The Standards Organisation of Nigeria (SON) is responsible for having the final say on what is required to be printed on bags of cement in the country.

"Lafarge is the only cement manufacturer in the market that puts the uses and specifications of cement on their bags," Mr Opakunle explained.

"In our technical submission to SON, we said that we want to do more than that - we want to put it in a way that the layman can understand."

He added that Lafarge would continue to make efforts to change current regulations, noting that labelling had a significant role to play in ensuring users had the correct information at their disposal.

This could prove to be critical with regards to future use, as there are certain risks associated with the different grades of cement that are commonly used.

The organisation has a research centre in France and, if its proposals were to be accepted, the knock-on effect could potentially have an impact across Europe, with companies that operate in Nigeria potentially having to review their current labelling standards for their products.